Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1887-09-08

chance of reaching to the safe. I was
wondering what to do when I heard one
of the men whisper:
''It's all id nonsense. We might work
here a week and not hit it."
| "But told you to bring the tools and
you wouldn't" protested another.
''Oh, dry up" put in a third voice.
"What we want to do is to so up and
| bring that counter-hopper down and make
/ him open the box"
'sIll give the cussed thing few more
trials" said the first man, and heard him
working away again. My eyes could not
have told me the number of robbers, but
my ears had. There were three of them
and they were no doubt desperate and
determined men. They spoke of bring
ing me down to open the safe as If no re-
sistance was anticipated or taken into
account. Indeed, they might well reason
that they had me at their mercy. The
rain was now falling, the night was very
dark, and a pistol shot in the store could
not have been heard in either of the
dwellings,. If they had reflected that I
might be armed, they would have Offset
1t with the fact that was boy of eigh
teen with a girls face and probably
girls nerve. l don't deny that [ was a
bit ratified, and that my lip would culver
in spite of me, but / was at the same time
fully determined to protect the store if it
cost my life. How to get at tie fellows
was what bothered me, but that trouble
was soon solved.
''There,'' whispered the man at the
combination as he let go of it, II won't
fool here another minute. That kid
knows the combination and we cen make
him work it. Come on"
They were coming up stairs. The best
| place for me would be at the head of the
stairway. The stairs had half turn in
them, and l would fire upon the first man
who came within range. l heard the
men coming back to the stairway, and
my nerve gave way. It wasn't from COW
ardice, but the knowledge that I was to
kill human being upset me. I decided
to retreat to my room, and, if they per-
sisted in coming that far, [ would shoot.
The trio had rubbers on their feet, but
they came up stairs without trying very
hard to prevent making noise. The
one who came first had the candle, and,
as he got to the head of the stairs, I saw
a knife in his other hand. They made
no delay in approaching my room, and,
with great effort, braced myself for
what 1 saw must happen. They could
not see me until within three or four feet
of the door, and their first intimation
| that [ was out of bed was when they heard
me call out:
'Stop or I'll shoot!"
had them covered with the weapon,
and for fifteen seconds there was dead
silence. Then they got plan. The
man with the candle dashed it on the
floor, and [ suppose they meant to rush
in on me in the dark, but [ checkmated
it by opening fire. They then either
meant 10 retreat down stairs or toward
the rear of the floor, for [ saw the three
together moving off, and fired at their
dim figures. Three seconds later there
was great shout of horror, followed by
the tremendous report OF the double-bar
relied spring gun, and then there was alb
solute silence. think [ stood in the
door, shaking like a leaf, for fully three
minutes before the silence was broken
| by groan. Then it came to me that the
robbers had fallen through the open door
upon the cord leading to the gun. L
struck a match, lighted my own candle,
and going to the opening saw three
bodies lying below. Running back to
the bedroom to recharge my revolver, I
then went down stairs to investigate. 1t
was as expected. The three had pitched
down together. The top of ones head
had been blown off by the shot, second
had hole in his chest as big as your fist,
while the third, who was responsible for
the groans, was severely wounded in both
legs. 1t was three months before he
could be put on trial, and he then got
four years in prison. The whole thing
was a put-up Job. The "drovsr" was a
Chicago burglar called "Clawhammer
Dick" and he had hidden himself in the
store that night, and then lot his pals in
by the back door. They had horse and
wagon in the rear of the building, and
the plan was to rob the store of goods as
we'll as to get at the money in the safe.
A bit of carelessness on my part not only
saved the store and probably my life,
but whipped out very desperate gang.
Physiological Effects of Decapitation
British Medical Journal.
The Progress Medical of July 8 publish
es a paper by Drs. Regnard and Ioye on
the examination of the head and body of
a convict Immediately after his decapita-
tioa by the guillotine. The prisoner was
calm to the last, and not pale, even when
his neck was fixed ready TO receive the
fatal knife. Two sections after decapi-
! bu0 CuSShS WcIS SbI11 rosy, bU0 0y
wide open, with moderately dilated pu-
pills, the mouth firmly closed. When
finger was placed close to one eye, no
change of expression took place; but on
touching an eye or the tips of the lashes
during the first five seconds, the lids
| closed just as in life. This reflex action
could not be elected from the sixth
second after decapitation. The jaws
were tightly clenched and could not be
opened by manual force; no similar con
traction could be detected in the trunk or
extremities. One minute after death
the face began to turn pale, the trunk
remained facc1d, the carotids continuing
to throw out blood remaining in the cir
culatory area. At the end of four min
utes the face was quite pale, the upper
lids were half closed, the jaws less firmly
clenched than before. The knife had
passed through. the lower part of the
fourth cervical vertebra. These research
es show that not trace of consciousness
remains two seconds after beheading that